2015 WILL BE A BANNER YEAR FOR SMALL BUSINESS WEBSITES

PALO ALTO, Calif., Jan. 8, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- While many people use the New Year to make resolutions about getting in shape or giving up unhealthy vices, small businesses have resolved to update their web presence in the coming year. In fact, more than one out of every three small businesses in the U.S. (36 percent) plan to substantially overhaul or totally rebuild their company website in the next 12 months, according to a new survey by Duda.

"Web design and the technology behind it changes quickly, which means it's difficult for small businesses to keep their websites up-to-date," said Itai Sadan, co-founder and CEO of Duda, a leading DIY mobile and responsive website builder and eCommerce platform for small businesses and web professionals.

"With 30 million small businesses in the U.S., this means we can expect to see at least 10 million small businesses substantially overhauling their web presence," added Sadan. "The need for websites to look good and function correctly across devices, as well as the need to add customer-centric features like personalization are driving huge numbers of small businesses to upgrade their web presence. It's critical that small business owners take the time to consider what elements their sites need, and make them as 'future-proof' as possible."

The survey was developed by Duda and conducted by an independent, third-party research firm. Results are based on responses from 440 small business owners of companies with fewer than 100 employees across the United States.

Sadan offers these tips to help small businesses ensure they get the most out of their new websites.

Make sure it's responsive. With mobile web traffic set to surpass desktop traffic once and for all, it's critical that all websites are mobile-friendly. A dedicated mobile site is a great way to bridge the desktop-mobile divide for older sites not ready to be replaced, however, those building a new site will want to turn to responsive design. A responsive website automatically adjusts its content and size to fit any screen or device - from connected televisions to smartphones - ensuring it won't need to be redesigned every time a new device is launched.

Add a personal touch. It's no secret to companies like Amazon and Netflix that website personalization – web content that adapts itself to the individual user – increases sales and improves customer satisfaction. Customers are looking for different things from a website based on the context in which they're using it. Time of day, device type and location are all good indicators of the types of content a business' customers need at a given moment. By leveraging easy-to-use personalization tools such as Duda's inSite, small business owners can improve both customer experience and sales on their new sites.

Start Selling Online. While it might sound daunting, creating a brand new website is a great time to consider adding eCommerce into a small business' sales mix. Making the goods a business sells available to customers online opens up an additional revenue stream and can create a competitive advantage. With many of the current eCommerce options on the market today, adding an online store is as easy as taking a photo and setting a price.

Pay Attention to Analytics. While many businesses have heard the term "Business Intelligence" few small organizations have had the expertise or access to the necessary tools to analyze their website data and make actionable business decisions.

When rebuilding or overhauling their sites this year, it's important for small businesses to choose a website building platform that allows them to easily look at their website's data, such as number of visits, device types that are accessing the site, location and engagement of visitors, etc, and quickly adapt their websites to take advantage of those insights.

About Duda

Duda is a leading a leading DIY mobile and responsive website builder and eCommerce platform for small businesses and web professionals via its products; DudaMobile, a mobile-only site builder; DudaOne, a responsive website builder and eCommerce platform, and DudaPro, which enables entrepreneurs, designers and agencies of all sizes to create personalized and dynamic web presence solutions without the need to invest in hours of costly development time. Duda is based in Palo Alto, California, currently hosts over five million websites and has won over ten awards in the last 12 months, including ranking #185 on the Inc. 500|5000 and Small or Medium Business Service of the Year.

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